SPRING HAS SPRUNG & SUNDAY FALLS.

At last! Spring is in the air. This has been the coldest spring since I have lived here and it's great to finally be able to bask in the warm sun.

The biggest news is that I have had a Canada Goose pair nest and produce six little goslings on my larger pond. I have no photos of them because I haven't taken any. I haven't taken any because this pond, built in the center of my forty acre parcel, away from the house and any distraction, is especially for my wild visitors. It is meant to be a safe haven and sanctuary. To photograph them feels like an invasion of their privacy and I must respect my guest's privacy. But, I can tell you, it is a site to behold as they paddle the pond. The photo below is of a family riding the Tobacco River.

CANADA GEESE AND GOSLING


I have also spied another new resident Timothy Turtle. I hope he has a partner or he may not stay for long.

Mostly the week was about ranch chores. That wonderful sun makes the grass, and everything else, grow. But, we took yesterday off and went down to Sunday Falls. I have tried to photograph these falls before with little luck and I'm afraid I had much the same outcome this day.

SUNDAY FALLS, MONTANA

For some reason I just can't seem to capture anything special at these falls. I suppose the main reason is, short of standing in the creek, it's tough to take a stand. The falls were really barreling so standing would have been very difficult.

SUNDAY FALLS, MONTANA

Naturally, where there is a Sunday Falls, there might just be a Sunday Creek. And so there is. I have a favorite spot where I like to try and photograph the creek but there was a old motorhome parked in the spot so I was not able to get in there. With these tough times more and more people are living in the forest and this looked to be the case. Not a bad placed to live really. But, you will get rousted by the Forest Service every 14 days.

SUNDAY CREEK, MONTANA

After fiddling around the falls I decided to continue up the Forest Service Road on foot. I had promised Koty a walk and I was wondering if we could find Fire Lake. Poor Koty, when I'm busy working around the ranch he doesn't get enough exercise. After working several hours I just don't have the umpah to hike a few more!

It was an extraordinarily beautiful day for a walk in the forest. We soon came to a fork in the road. I didn't know which one to take. One thing you can count on in the National Forest, they'll give you one sign that will intrigue you and never another to get you there. I chose to take the road to the right. After awhile a small pickup with a canoe in the back pulled along side. They looked like they were on their way to a lake so I stopped them. It turned out the first Fire Lake was not far. The next lake was five miles further. They were on their way to the upper lake.

FIRE LAKE, MONTANA

Fire Lake isn't a particularly pretty lake and it's fairly small as well. There were two people trying their hand at fishing but I don't think they had had much success. I didn't have another five miles in me so we headed back down the road.

UNDERWATER GARDEN AT FIRE LAKE

I don't know what these plants are. They look like a lily pad except that they are red. Maybe lily pads growing underwater are red? I dunno.

It turned out to be not much of a day for photography, either that or I was off my game. But, any day spent in the woods of Montana is a day well spent. I live in the woods but I love to explore new places. I never know when I will stumble on that special opportunity to capture something truly unique and beautiful. Something I can share that people would never get to see any other way. That lights my candle. We'll come back and look for the other Fire Lake another day.

©Kinsey Barnard

Just A Qucikie!

We are home and have been having a wild time of it. A wind storm came through a few days ago and nearly flattened our forest. We were without power for a a day and when we were able to get out to assess damage it was an amazing sight to see.

Although, we got plenty of damage some of our neighbors fared far worse so we are grateful. But, I will be out with the chainsaw for a very long time trying to clean up the mess.

The deer are loving it because they like the tender new needles they can get unless a tree falls. The good news is that almost all of the trees were spruce and I would have culled them eventually anyway for fire wood. I get some photos to show you. An amazing display of Mother Natures's power.

Will return to the trip diary, hopefully, soon.

Nothing So Regal As The Eagle & Loon Lake

It's that time of year again; when the fishing is easy at least for the bears and the eagles. It's salmon spawning time. Bald eagles are a pretty common sight around these parts but I never cease to be in awe of them. This guy was looking for kocanee salmon, on which to dine, along the Tobacco River near Eureka Montana. BIRDS OF PREY



We almost missed the kocanee altogether. Koty wanted a drink so we jumped down the bank to the water. I was just standing there, off in my dream world, when I noticed these red/orange string like things under the water. At first I thought it was some plant life anchored to the bottom flowing backward with the current. But, as I kept looking I soon realized what I was really seeing were kocanee salmon spawning. And, just think, these are the types of things we get to experience when we go to town to run errands!



A little later in the week we decided to try and find Loon Lake. We are always trying to find new places. Our search took us first into the little town of Fortine. Passing through I happened to see this "Montana Planter" on a porch and thought it looked kinda cool and very Montana. We love to photograph some of the fun stuff one sees along the road. AMERICANA



It's kinda tricky finding stuff once you get off the paved roads and on to the Forest Services roads. These roads are single lane, dirt tracks and mostly don't have much in the way of signs. You can easily find yourself off on some logging road and never even know it. Which is exactly what happened to us. Though we were on the wrong road one thing we did discover. Things are beginning to change and Fall is in the air. FORESTS & TREES



We finally figured out that we were on the wrong road, back tracked and found Loon Lake. We didn't see or hear any loons but it was a very pretty little lake and well worth the trip. It's amazing, all the gems secreted out in these forests. We never tire of searching for them. For us, it's like finding treasure. LOONS



The lake sported it's own little island and, although I am a color fanatic, I wanted this shot in black and white. I couldn't say why. Now that I see it, I still like it in back and white and I still couldn't say why. :) BLACK & WHITE

That was our week. Hope yours was a great one too!

©Kinsey Barnard

Alberta Trip Gets Cut Short - Koty Sees the Vet

Well, phooey! We had to cut our Waterton/Glacier trip in half. It's kind of my fault although I really couldn't help it. I went off my feed, which isn't unusual for the first couple of days of a trip but when it started to drag out mom got worried and I'm glad she did! I'm fine now but I was mighty uncomfortable I can tell you that. Turned out that some bones I had eaten had made kind of a calcium block in my intestine. Mom thought I wasn't pooping because I hadn't eaten but that wasn't the reason and I couldn't tell her. Lucky for me the block had worked it's way nearly to the exit and an enema fixed me right up. I guess that's more than you wanted to know but there it is.



Our last day at Waterton we went up Red Rock Canyon to the Crandall Lake turnoff. Mom wanted to walk along Crandall Creek and see if she could find some nice wildflowers. We didn't find any wildflowers of note but we did find this big black bear. He was just strolling along enjoying the day. No one's heart was in the walk so we headed back to the campground. That's when mom decided we were pulling up stakes in the morning.



Mom always likes to say every cloud has a silver lining and really it does. On the way home we stopped at the Crowsnest info station and discovered there was a really neat place to explore only 75 miles from home and after fourth of July we are going to do it! The photo is of Crowsnest Mountain.



We went straight to the vets when we crossed the border and after I got fixed up there we headed to the ranch. At the gate we were greeted by a Whitetail doe and her fawn. You gotta get a kick out of those whitetails when they go flying off!



So, we hung around the ranch for a couple of days and visited with our friends here. Mom chopped some wood and I played tag with a doe. It was really fun. I was in my enclosure and the doe and I chased each other round and round until we were both pooped out. Mom was too busy chopping wood to get a photo. She's got her work cut out as we had a lot of blow down this winter and there's nothing tougher to split, and she does it all by hand, than dead wood.



Yesterday we took a little trip down to the Stillwater National Forest. Wanted to check out Fish and Bull Lakes. These lakes turned out to be yawners. The bear grass is starting to come out and mom did get this photo of some lilly pads from a bluff overlooking a private pond. I was a nice hike anyway.

So, that was our week. Hope yours was great too!

Visit my mom's website to see her most recent photographs. Or visit any of her many galleries. Prints start at just $8.95.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

British Columbia

We hiked to British Columbia today. For some folks that would probably be quite a trek, for us it was only about two hours on foot. That sign there says it's the 49th parallel and the international boundary between Canada and the United States. Mom was a good girl and stayed on our side but I scampered into Canada as far as my lead would allow. No mounties came after me! The border here is a pretty impressive sight. It's just this, what looks like a fire break, cut through the forest as far as the eye can see.

On the way up we saw a beautiful back bear. His coat was like jet black velvet. There wasn't any opportunity for mom to get a shot as he took off as soon as he heard us. Bears have VERY good ears and they can run like the wind. Course, so do I. I bet I could've caught up with him if mom would've let me. But, I'm not allowed to chase. Darn!

It's really hard getting photographs of animals in the wild. Technically, the animals in the parks are in the wild but they are so accustomed to cars, people and cameras it's a lot easier. For us, in the wild, means where you walk all day and never see another human being. Here in Montana that isn't hard to do. Montana is the fourth largest state land mass wise and still has less than one million humans in the whole place. The animals in these forests are pretty leery of humans and just the crunch of human boots on the trail is enough to send anything around flying. Me I could sneak up on them, I have quiet shoes. Problem is I'm not too good with a camera.

Mom tried to get some pictures in an old mine shaft but neither one of us was very crazy about being in there in the dark and all she got was a fuzzy picture of my behind.

Until next time......

Whitetail Deer

Not a whole lot to report except that on Sunday we were visited by six whitetail bucks in velvet. We have never before had that many bucks at one time. It was a pretty amazing site. Of course, all I wanted to do was chase them but mom doesn't let me. The photo is of three of them. Aren't they something?

It's warmed up again, darn it. Late this afternoon we hiked in the Kootenai but didn't see anything except one lone whitetail doe.

The photo below was taken at my ranch in northwest Montana. A beautiful, whitetail buck. Oh, my, deer! :)


Until next time......... ©Kinsey Barnard